How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searc

This essay How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searc has a total of 1055 words and 4 pages.

How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searching for a Solution

Just a few months ago I was with my friends Mike and Kim and we had been walking around having a great time in the city. We then exited a store and Kim said something under her breath like, "Oh, no," when I looked in the same direction to find a middle aged man with a drunken stare to him. She knew this man as "the town drunk" and he had been homeless for years. He asked us for the time and we replied, but he didn’t just stop with that and followed us across the street talking up a storm. He was telling his whole life story in the fifteen minutes we stood there: he talked about how he grew up living poor with his family and how he wanted to be educated and go through college to get a good job so he could live well. But he said his parents just didn’t have the money and it was impossible. I felt threatened as did Mike and Kim from the drunken gestures of this man and thought to myself, if this man wanted to make something of his life, I mean if he really wanted to, he would try harder and somehow do what he wanted. We tried to leave as soon as possible.
But then I began reading these essays about the homeless and it started to change my mind. The essay "Virginia’s Trap" by Peter Marin especially effected me because of the way it portrays the young woman that has nothing going for her and almost everything against her. I though about this and decided I had misunderstood the whole plight of this population and thought there must be a better way to help these unfortunate people. How should we help the homeless and should we try even though they may not help themselves? I figure that is the most important question that needs to be answered if anything is to be done.
Of the essays I analyzed Awalt’s "Brother Don’t Spare a Dime" was the one essay that went against the idea of helping the homeless because the author thinks it’s their own fault for being the way they are. The other two essays are easier on the homeless and want to lend a helping hand. In "Address Unknown: Homeless in Contemporary America" James Wright thinks that helping the homeless by giving them more benefits that they will be more prosperous. Peter Marin has the same idea in "Virginia’s Trap" where the young woman is in need of just a little bit more money to stay the way she is in a home but doesn’t receive enough. While Awalt’s narrow view of homeless people gives him the idea that all should not be helped in anyway, Wright and Marin go towards the idea of helping the people because they have already had a rough life and do in fact need this help to go anywhere in life.
Awalt’s statement that homeless people are a "waste of time" is a very general statement in the least. Throughout his essay he only mentioned working with one homeless person trying to help him through a detoxification program. This person failed the procedure and left to go back to the streets and drink again. (Awalt 239) Just because this one person didn’t have the endurance to undergo such an operation doesn’t mean others wouldn’t. What we need to have is a more "hands on" program with these homeless people to give them the attention that they need so that a majority of the people will not end up like this but eventually in their own homes.
The opposite view is shared by Wright and Marin in their more lengthy and detailed essays. Wright starts out saying that not all homeless are the same and should not all be treated the same. He states there are different classes of homeless people and there are the worthy and unworthy homeless, meaning that only some deserve to remain this way because they don’t try to live otherwise. These small amount of people, about five percent, don’t deserve the time and money spent on trying to get them off the streets but the

Read essay without registering

Donate an essay now and get the full essay emailed you. Upload File
Acceptable files: .txt, .doc, .docx, .rtfEmail Address

Topics Related to How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searc

Essays Related to How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searc

IRAQ AND THE UNITED STATES In the past seven years there has been a IRAQ AND THE UNITED STATES In the past seven years there has been a great deal of tension concerning the United States and Iraq. The United States have been discussing conducting air strikes against Iraq. The 1991 Gulf War may not have been as successful as believed. The United States spent millions of American dollars to support the war effort in the 1991 Gulf War. Taxpayers money is not the only expendable thing during the 1991 Gulf War. Many United States Soldiers are now suffering from an u

First StandMany issues plague the world today Questions arrive about h First Stand Many issues plague the world today. Questions arrive about how people should live, who should control the most power, and many other questions that Americans have spent all their lives trying to answer. This isn’t an essay where I try to answer all those questions, but how I stand on certain issues like war, wealth, social status, education and finally technology. All those issues get even larger where even more questions arise. Those 3 sections are Political, Social, and Economical

Karl Marx was born on May 5 1818 in a place called Trier in Prussia Ma Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in a place called Trier in Prussia. Marx attended the university of Bonn and later the university of Berlin, where he studied law, while majoring in history and philosophy. Karl Marx was married to his childhood friend Jenny von Westphalen, in 1843. Karl met his closest friend Frederick Engels in September of 1844, when he arrived in Paris. Together they participated in the activities of many revolutionary societies, and formed the theory and ideas of revoluti

Poverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain a minima Poverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain a minimal adequate standard of living. The definition of the term adequate varies, however, with the general standard of living in a society and with public attitudes toward deprivation. No university accepted definition of basic needs exists because poverty is a relative concept. In poorer countries it means living at the brink of subsistence, while in our country few improvised families confront starvation, although many suffer fro

All Things are Relative All Things are Relative The dictionary defines civilized as advanced in social customs, art, and science. The keyword here is social customs. A persons idea of what is civilized is relative to his culture. Through out the history of man, one can see many changes in customs, and customs is what defines our idea of what is civilized. The word civilized is one of the most relative concepts. Time and distance are what have shaped our customs for thousands of years. If we look back throughout hist

According to A Nation at Risk the American education system has decl According to A Nation at Risk, the American education system has declined due to a rising tide of mediocrity in our schools. States such as New York have responded to the findings and recommendations of the report by implementing such strategies as the Regents Action Plan and the New Compact for Learning. In the early 1980Æs, President Regan ordered a national commission to study our education system. The findings of this commission were that, compared with other industrialized nations

How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We Searching for a Solution How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searching for a Solution Just a few months ago I was with my friends Mike and Kim and we had been walking around having a great time in the city. We then exited a store and Kim said something under her breath like, Oh, no, when I looked in the same direction to find a middle aged man with a drunken stare to him. She knew this man as the town drunk and he had been homeless for years. He asked us for the time and we replied, but he didn’t just stop

Never Get Outta Never Get Outta These Blues Alive How the Blues Have Affected Modern Poetry a term paper by: Bernard Dolan 1. Blues Performers & What are the Blues? Of all the varied and exotic foundations of today's rock and roll music, none can be said to have had the impact made by Blues music. Only recently has this influence been rightly recognized, however, leading to the creation of such establishments as The House of Blues, a club owned by several actors, which salutes the blues and offers a medium

China's Population Problem China's Population Problem The Chinese government has taken the enforcement of family planning and birthrate laws to an extreme by violating the civil rights of its citizens, which has had bad effects on the morale of its people (Whyte 161). China's population has grown to such an enormous size that it has become a problem to both the people and government. China, the most populous country in the world, has an estimated population of about one thousand-one hundred-thirty three point six million

US HomelessnessU.S. Homelessness Psychology Homeless Argument Final Draft The homeless population in the United States seems to be growing. In populated areas of the country you can be confronted by homeless people on the street on a daily basis. The largest organization that helps the homeless is known as the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). The NCH states that the media has reported a growing economy and low unemployment which is masking the problem of homelessness in this country. Why are people h

The Sunday Times The Sunday Times www.thesundaytimes.co.uk Sunday 11th November 2004 Sergeant “Shelter” slays seven Air Marshals provoke outrage at Heathrow Airport A case of mistaken identity proved the trigger for a near disaster situation at Heathrow Airport recently or so a secret report commissioned by the Dept of Transport revealed. This case which has only just come to light through the leaking of a government document shows that Air marshals on bored a British Airways plane bound for Washington DC drew

LanguagesLanguages Many of the world's lesser-known languages are being lost as fewer and fewer people speak them. The governments of countries in which these languages are spoken should act to prevent such languages from becoming extinct. The author states that government of countries should take an active role in preventing languages from getting extinct due to decrease in number of people speaking them.I agree with the speaker insofar that each country should preserve its indigenous languages and cult

SchizophreniaSchizophrenia Schizophrenia, severe mental illness characterized by a variety of symptoms, including loss of contact with reality, bizarre behavior, disorganized thinking and speech, decreased emotional expressiveness, and social withdrawal. Usually only some of these symptoms occur in any one person. The term schizophrenia comes from Greek words meaning split mind. However, contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personality. (For

War What Is It Good ForWar What Is It Good For? Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Think about this for a moment. What would you do if you had one chance, one opportunity, to save thousands of innocent peoples lives would you take it? I hope, as you are all reasonable people you would. I Know I would, because people’s lives matter whether they are your next-door neighbours or the people living in Iraq right now. People have the right to be given the chance to live. War what is it good for? The main purpose of this spe

Mental HealthMental Health Introduction Definition of Problem Description of Preliminary Data Gathering, Collection, or Resource The Research Design Data Analysis and Interpretation Conclusion Slide 1 The mental health and substance abuse fields have had a growing awareness of the prevalence of co-occurring disorders and the challenges presented by this population. The lack of success within traditional treatment settings for individuals with co-occurring disorders is well documented. Estimates suggest that

BLACK VS BLACKBLACK VS. BLACK Psychology of Racism Racism If you're White you're alright, if you're brown, stick around, if you're Black, stay back. You may not have ever heard that old saying, but many believe the feeling behind it is still as popular as the rhyme was generations ago; positive character traits are associated with light skin, while negative attributes and problems are connected to darker skin color. Many people believe that African Americans receive a great amount of discrimination from Cauca

HomelessnessHomelessness Being homeless is often defined as sleeping on the streets. Although this is the most visible and severe form of homelessness, there are many other types of acute housing need. These include living in temporary accommodation, poor or overcrowded conditions, or being in mortgage arrears and under threat of re-possession. (Hope 1986) It is a symptom of many complex problems: mental illness, emotional instability, illiteracy, chronic substance abuse, unemployment, and, most basic of al

Homeless PeopleHomeless People The problem of homelessness in America is growing dramatically. It's a problem that can strike anyone when you least expect it. Therefore you should address this as a major crisis that affects our society. I feel as Americans we should come together to create solutions to end a growing epidemic of homeless people. Statistics show people living in poverty are most at risk of becoming homeless. Economically they are at a higher risk of losing what little they already have. The numb

The Politics of HomelessnessThe Politics of Homelessness The problems of the homeless are real, but as with anything, the details of reality depend on the agenda of the person telling the story. Unfortunately, in the case of this issue, it is the homeless who suffer while the political armies fight for preeminence. In fact, the politics of homelessness has become a multibillion dollar business that is more concerned with protecting its own existence than it is in actually helping its constituents. Throwing money at the pro

What is welfare According to recent polls most Americans consider this What is welfare? According to recent polls, most Americans consider this nation’s welfare system “a failure and a disgrace” (LeVert 10). Most people use the word “welfare” to mean income support or public assistance programs designed to help people who are already poor. Although it is geared to poverty-stricken people, families, and children, most people have benefited from government aid or assistance programs, in other words, “welfare.” Poverty in America is a disease for which there is plent

-1- -1- INTRODUCTION Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency contribute to the majority of the homeless within our soci

HELPING THE HOMELESS HELPING THE HOMELESS By Vilma Latalladi Ms. Vanderby November, 1998 On a chilly February afternoon, an old man sits sleeping on the sidewalk outside a New York hotel while the lunchtime crowd shuffles by. At the man's feet is a sign, which reads: Won't you help me? I'm cold and homeless and lonely. God bless You (Chambers 11). Imagine, if you can, the life this man leads. He probably spends his days alone on the street begging for handouts, and his nights searing for shelter from the cold. He

Many methods of therapy have been developed for survivors of trauma Al Many methods of therapy have been developed for survivors of trauma. All methods share the following guidelines: Therapy always is individualized to meet the specific concerns and needs of each unique trauma survivor, based upon careful interview and questionnaire assessments at the beginning of (and during) treatment. Trauma therapy is done only when the patient is not currently in crisis. If a patient is severely depressed or suicidal, experiencing extreme panic or disorganized thinking, in n

Poverty Poverty Marcelo Ortiz Period ¾ $ 520,000,000,000. This amount of money represents the net worth of just 2 of the top Fortune 500 companies of the world. There are many problems in the world today, with the most destructive problem being poverty. This is the worst because it kills and leaves many homeless and hungry everyday. It is also the worst problem because it would be the easiest to resolve. The way to solve it is to have all the world leaders pool together their money and give it to the p

Lady Diana Life and Times Lady Diana, Life and Times Everyone loves fairy tales at one point in time in his or her life. Every little girl wants to catch her prince and become a princess. That is what happened with Lady Diana Spencer when she married Prince Charles. This essay will explore the ways and reasons how Princess Diana changed the British Monarchy and how she became the Princess of the peoples hearts. Diana was born in the late afternoon on July 1, 1961, as the honorable Diana Frances Spencer, to her parents,

1 Understand Who The Homeless Are 1. Understand Who The Homeless Are The First--and most important--thing you can do to help the homeless is to realize that the tired old stereotypes concerning them just are not true. Myth: They want to be homeless. Fact: Less than six percent of the homeless are that way by choice. Myth: They're to blame for being homeless. Fact: Most homeless are victims. Some have suffered from child abuse or violence. Nearly one quarter are children. Many have lost their jobs. All have lost their homes. Myt

It has been said by some that justice can be bought That is to say t It has been said by some that, justice can be bought. That is to say that, if one has the money, one can hire the best lawyers and oftentimes receive a better result than a poor man might. While this may be true, it is not in the interests of society to have favorable judgments go to the highest bidder. Indeed, if wealth were allowed to circumvent justice, the whole fabric of our liberal society would unravel. All men, regardless of how poor they are, have the right to access to the justice t

Title Title Imagine a typical day in your life: You wake up, throw back the covers and get out of bed. You don’t put on a robe because the heat is on and it’s warm in your room. After freshening up in the bathroom, you go to your closet to choose an outfit to wear. You grab a quick breakfast. Then your best friend gives you a lift to school. At the end of the day, your mother picks you up to go shopping. Later, after dinner, you do your homework, talk on the phone and watch TV with your brother and s

I met Sue and Chris last summer at a campground in the I met Sue and Chris last summer at a campground in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. They appeared to be just two ordinary campers. It was after some casual conversation that I learned they had been living in the campground for the past two weeks. Park authorities had informed them their time was up and they would have to move somewhere else. Sue, a young lady in her late twenties, told me they had no place else to go. Chris, a young man in his early thirties, had lost his job, had no mon

Many peoples have contributed to the development of the United States Many peoples have contributed to the development of the United States of America, a vast nation that arose from a scattering of British colonial outposts in the New World. The first humans to inhabit the North American continent were migrants from northeast Asia who established settlements in North America as early as 8000 BC and possibly much earlier (see NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY). By about AD 1500 the native peoples of the areas north of the Rio Grande had developed a variety of different c

Homelessness is a very large problem that America has come to face witHomelessness is a very large problem that America has come to face with. Millions of people, including children, families, babies, veterans, and the elderly live day by day without food, water, a roof over their head, or love. People that are mentally ill also have to tough it out on the streets, which can be very confusing to them, and dangerous to us. This problem must be solved soon, because it's not getting better fast enough. People have not always had to suffer with homelessness. Though th

Drug LegalizationDrug Legalization However, drugs should not be legalizied because there would be an increase in drug abuse due to its availability. Legalized drugs would become cheaper and more accessible to people who previously had not tried drugs. Addicts who tend to stop, not by choice, would not stop because drugs would be more accessible if legalized. The result of drug abuse is thousands of addicts in denial. The good news is that the United States had 286 million dollars and 81,762 drug seizures due to

DostoevskyDostoevsky Dostoevsky first presents Smerdyakov, in The Brothers Karamazov, in Book 3 of Part 1. The author divulges details of the conception of the fourth son of Fyodor Pavovich Karamazov. Late on a September evening, a drunk Fyodor, by modern standards, rapes a homeless woman. Stinking Lizaveta, the victim of Fyodor's violence, was a legend in the town. Regardless of her unattractive and dirty appearance, her poverty, and homelessness, the townspeople regarded her with sympathy and compassion

Economic DevelopmentEconomic Development Location Bangladesh is located in South Asia and shares borders with India to the west, the north and the east. To the southeast lies Burma. The southern shores are washed by the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh occupies a fertile delta created by two of Asia's largest river systems, the Ganges and the Brahmiputra. Politics Bangladesh is one of the youngest nations in Asia. Until two and a half decades ago, it formed the eastern half of Pakistan; the western half lay over 2,000 km

Women on the StreetWomen on the Street Have you ever rushed down the street and felt that nagging feeling of guilt, as you breeze by someone lying in a doorway? Is she alive? Is she ill? Why do we all rush by without finding out is she's all right? People sit in train stations, bus stations, parks, doorways, unmistakably sick, with what, we don't know. All are seemingly alone. Some beg. Some don't. Some have open sores that ooze and bleed. Some are drunk. Some talk to themselves or formless others. They have no ho

Poverty vs The EconomyPoverty vs. The Economy Poverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain a minimal adequate standard of living. The definition of the term adequate varies, however, with the general standard of living in a society and with public attitudes toward deprivation. No university accepted definition of basic needs exists because poverty is a relative concept. In poorer countries it means living at the brink of subsistence, while in our country few improvised families confront starvation, a

Family Planning Population Policy In IndiaFamily Planning Population Policy In India India's population is in peril. Without the implementation of stringent, effective population management policies, the country's population will rise above 2 billion within the next 20 years (www.fpaindia.com). In the absence of control programs, India's ever growing population will lead to increased incidents of famine, disease, environmental stress and result in a severe shortage of housing facilities. However, if the Indian government quickly adminis

The People's PrincessThe People's Princess Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk. Her parents, John and Frances Spencer, were hoping for a boy to carry on the Spencer name. It took them nearly a week to come up with a name for the baby girl. Eighteen months earlier, her mother had giver birth to a baby boy, but he was so sick that he only survived for ten hours. Lady Frances, twenty three at the time, was sent to many specialists to find out the reason why she could not have a little

The Hole In The NetThe Hole In The Net Our social safety net has a hole in it. The fibers of the net are decaying; the hole is getting bigger. More people are falling through, and the people with the least strength are holding the most of the weight. Three to four million Americans are homeless according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 5.5% cannot find jobs according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and the figure is over twice that in the 20-24 year old age group, according to the D

Technology In Our SocietyTechnology In Our Society No doubt, technology is increasingly important in the modern world. It is amazing how fast technology has been developed. Nearly every major advance was invented in the last century. These invention are always planned for a positive result, however the negative effects often do not become apparent until after the event. These effects will be deal in the following paragraphs with related materials. The text, Whose Life is it Anyway?, by Brian Clark, has clearly illustr

Medical Miracles on the HorizonMedical Miracles on the Horizon The world and its inhabitants will face a multitude of problems in the 21st Century, including drug addiction, deadly disease, violent crime, warfare and hostility, hunger, and homelessness to name a few. All of these critical issues have been present to some extent in the 20th Century and, left unsolved, will continue to plague society and mankind as we enter the new millennium. As we rapidly approach the next era, new issues of equal or even greater importance f

The Differences and Similarities of Pneumonia and TuberculosisThe Differences and Similarities of Pneumonia and Tuberculosis Pneumonia and tuberculosis have been plaguing the citizens of the world for centuries causing millions of deaths. This occurred until the creation and use of antibiotics become more widely available. These two respiratory infections have many differences, which include their etiology, incidence and prevalence, and many similarities in their objective and subject indicators, medical interventions, course, rehabilitation and effects. T

TuberculosisTuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a germ (bacterium) called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This germ primarily affects the lungs and may infect anyone at any age. In the United States, the number of TB cases steadily decreased until 1986 when an increase was noted; TB has continued to rise since. Today, ten million individuals are infected in the U.S., as evidenced by positive skin tests, with approximately 26,000 new cases of active disease each year. The increase i

What is borderline personality disorderWhat is borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder is defined in the DSM IV, a manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose all mental disorders, as an AXIS II disorder which has symptoms of impulsively and emotional dysregulation (Livesley 146). A person with BPD have feelings of abandonment and emptiness, and have frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, going to extremes to keep someone from leaving (Burger 300). He or she is emotionally unstable and forms intense but unstable i

Society's Problems and My Role In Helping ItSociety's Problems and My Role In Helping It Is helping solve the problems of society everyone's job, or no one's job. What role would you hope to play, based on your interests and developing skills, in the solution of one or more specific problems? As the problems in society arise, it is the duty of every individual to ease the burden by helping to solve these problems. Too often, individuals pass off that responsibility with the hope that others will pick up the slack. The problem is that too

Personal Essay PrejudicePersonal Essay: Prejudice I. BACKGROUND The location was a moderate to large size city near the east coast of Massachusetts. The city has a mix of all races and is diverse in its racial distribution. It is a city where most of the people are middle class working folks. While it is a moderate size city, it has few city problems such as homelessness, poverty and violence. The year was 1992 and it was the summertime. It was very hot and humid at about 11:30 at night and I was in a car driving aroun

The Homeless in EnglandThe Homeless in England Introduction I decided to study the homeless' situation before we went to England, so I tried to get information about it via the internet, but it was so much information that I soon gave up... When we got to England I thought about changing subject to the pub culture because it seemed easier to write about, but after a few days I had seen so many homeless people that I got used to it and therefor dared to talk to them and ask them questions about their situation and why

Brave New World All Things are RelativeBrave New World: All Things are Relative The dictionary defines civilized as advanced in social customs, art, and science. The keyword here is social customs. A persons idea of what is civilized is relative to his culture. Through out the history of man, one can see many changes in customs, and customs is what defines our idea of what is civilized. The word civilized is one of the most relative concepts. Time and distance are what have shaped our customs for thousands of years. If we look back

Understanding The Nature of HomlessnessUnderstanding The Nature of Homlessness I knew that I would encounter homelessness when I came to Berkeley. I was expecting it, because just about everybody I knew had something to say about the rumors they'd heard filter over from the West Coast. Coming from New York, however, I figured I'd seen it all, and would be in control over whatever I would be up against. Reality quickly hit me, though, as I began to familiarize myself with Berkeley and its main streets. I'd never seen anything quite li

Homelessness means, of a person without a home, anHomelessness means, of a person without a home, and therefore typically living on the streets because of many reasons such as financial or psychological problems. It has become such an abstraction, and it is applied to so any different kinds of people, with so many different histories an d problems, that it is almost meaningless. Homelessness in Canada is a very massive and concerning issue because of the growing population. Many people put the issue of homelessness aside because there are many